The Unrepeatable Joy of Sam Darnold's 2016 USC Season (Video)
A visual edition of the CFB Newsletter.
Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where we know what time the Super Bowl is. It’s at 6:30pm E.T. on Sunday (Thank you for bearing with me for the shameless SEO play).
Even if you’re not a fan of the Patriots or Seahawks, chances are you’re rooting for a player or coach in the Super Bowl simply because he attended your favorite school. I’m sure there’s an Ohio State fan somewhere who is rooting for the Patriots, because that means TreVeyon Henderson can go from national champion in 2025 to Super Bowl winner in 2026. That would be an incredible accomplishment. I’m from Los Angeles, so it’s easy for me to root for USC Trojan Sam Darnold, despite him beating my beloved Rams in the NFC Championship.
(Someone living in North Carolina right now is hoping that Drake Maye leads the Patriots to the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl win. And that person is probably not Bill Belichick. Awkward times for Bill.)
But going back to Darnold, his journey to the Super Bowl is so surprising if you’ve only kept up with his professional journey. The Jets-to-Panthers-to-Vikings combination isn’t the most confidence-inspiring path to a Super Bowl (he also had a stint as 49ers QB). But if you remember how he played at USC, especially at the Rose Bowl to cap the 2016 season against Penn State, you’ll know he could play lights-out. His emergence then was still surprising considering he started the season as the backup. The 2016 Trojans were a happy story despite them not making the College Football Playoff.
I can let Alex explain this one further, in. But instead of him typing out his response as usual, we have a YouTube video for you instead. It’s the one at the very top of this newsletter, released for all of you before we list it on YouTube later tonight. This is part of our new strategy of putting a few extras on YouTube, as outlined in Alex and Richard’s State of SZD newsletter from last week.
Many Friday evenings at 6 p.m. ET, we’re aiming to publish a new YouTube video that’s separate from anything on the podcast feed. Some of them will be about people in the news like Curt Cignetti. Other videos will try to explain how college football works, from NIL to eligibility to recruiting. If you’re reading this, chances are you already know how the sport generally operates but it’s important to take a step back and examine how we got here. Give this a watch and send us some feedback, so we can make more kinds of videos that you enjoy.
Here’s what Alex and Richard dropped into your podcast feeds recently
● Godfrey paid a visit to open up the time capsule from the beginning of the ‘25 season. The season was as unpredictable as ever, so you’re gonna get a laugh at some of the predictions. But one thing that Godfrey (sort of) correctly guessed was the rise of North Texas’ quarterback. The only problem is that he didn’t write down Drew Mestemaker’s name. Still, we commend the process and are giving him the W on that anyway.
● Matt Brown joined Alex and Richard for the SZD-Extra Poins Sports Business Hour to talk about how Rutgers got itself into a half a billion (yes, really) financial hole since joining the Big Ten and why the imminent jersey sponsors won’t be fun. We’re going to get banks and insurance companies. A lot of money will be spent on these, even at smaller programs like ULM.
Our hosts also write a lot, including about non-CFB subjects
● Gus Malzahn retired after 35 years in the game. For CBS Sports, Richard explained all the ways he innovated offenses at his various stops.
● At Hang Up and Listen, Alex talked about his favorite Olympics events now that the Winter games are officially underway.
● Speaking of the Olympics, you should subscribe to Rodger Sherman’s Sports! Newsletter. He dropped his Winter Olympics primer and I already feel smarter reading it. If you’re even at least a bit online, you know that Rodger and the Olympics are a perfect combination.
Take care of yourselves, and enjoy the last NFL game of the season.